The present invention relates generally to article safes, and more specifically to a key safe with one locking means providing limited access to an interior chamber and a second locking means locking and securing a shackle which attaches the key safe to a door knob or the like.
It is often desirable to provide limited access to premises such as a domicile, an office, or a business residence so that authorized persons such as servicemen, repairmen, or realtors may enter the premises to perform their services and leave without the necessity of owner or authorized occupant being present. In less precarious times this could have been accomplished by either leaving the door of the premises open, or discretely placing a key under the door mat or elsewhere. However, the security risks attendant with modern society require severely restricting the availability of the key or information necessary to gain access to the premises.
A good example of the modern security crisis in providing limited access to a premise is that encountered by the realtor and the home owner in showing the property to a perspective client. Timing arrivals and departures of everyone so that paths cross simultaneously is difficult at best; therefore it is necessary for the realtor to have access to the premises while the owner is not there. Furthermore, it is often the case that many different realtors must be able to gain access because the premises is listed with a number of different brokers. Each broker must be provided with ready access to the premises in order to service the owner efficiently.
Various devices exist in the prior art which attempt to address themselves to these goals, and the state of the art of which applicant is aware comprises the following U.S. patents:
______________________________________ 1,436,937 Barrett 3,636,742 Raney 2,911,814 Williams 1,955,809 Hobbs 2,813,620 Hansen 3,712,091 Parent 3,695,067 Bays 3,979,932 Piche ______________________________________
Of the above citations the reference to Barrett is of interest since the device disclosed therein is widely used and is conceptually representative of all the other citations except that to Piche, which will be distinguished hereinafter.
The disclosure in Barrett provides a chamber with a locking door permitting access thereto and a shackle arm connected to an upper portion of the chamber permitting the chamber to be secured and locked to a door knob or the like. Once the chamber is accessed through the locked door any key contained therein may be removed and the latch for the shackle arm may be released so that the entire chamber can be disengaged from the door knob and removed. Thus, anyone having a key to the door may access the chamber, remove the contents and unlatch the shackle and remove the chamber itself; conversely one without a key may not remove the contents of the chamber or the chamber itself. The key operatively associated with the chamber door must be, and is a universal type key since many different realtors and their agents must have access to the premises. Thus, all the realtors and real estate agents that are associated with a particular realty board are issued non-duplicable universal keys which will open any chamber associated therewith. There are a number of severe problems associated with this type of arrangement.
Often times it takes months to find a buyer for the property or premises, and throughout that entire period the owner or occupant must endure the insecurity and inconvenience of having a key safe attached to his front door knob, knowing that there can be one thousand or more universal keys that will allow access to the chamber of the lock box containing the key to the premises. Thus, anyone who obtains one of the universal keys to the locked box such as that disclosed in Barrett may also obtain / access to any premises with such a lock box attached to the front door knob of the premises. Furthermore, if someone does gain unauthorized possession of a universal key and burglarizes a premises, collecting insurance presents severe problems to the home owner since there is no forced entry. Because the owner or occupant of the premises is not issued one of the universal keys that allows access to the lock box, the owner or occupant may not remove the lock box, because the latch to the shackle arm is contained inside the chamber of the lock box. Thus, anyone with a lock box attached to a door of the premises is without piece of mind and feels vulnerable because he or she cannot remove the lock box even at nighttime when access to the premises is not required by a real estate agent or other authorized persons.
A further significant problem associated with the use of this type of lock box arrangement is the invasion of privacy encountered when a realtor is unable to contact the owner of a premises before showing the premises and arrives with the clients at an inopportune moment. In order to greatly diminish the possibility of a breach of security or privacy, the owner or occupant of a premises should be able to remove the lock box from the exterior of a door of the premises without first having to gain access to the interior chamber of the lock box, thereby providing piece of mind for the owner or occupant, and similarly, piece of mind for the realtor, since he does not have to provide the owner or occupant with a universal key which could be used to gain access to any of the multiple lock boxes to which the realtor has access.
From the realtor's point of view, he or she has an ethical duty to disclose to a perspective client the inherent risk associated with the current lock box type system of showing the premises. This may be perceived as an unprofessional way of doing business and influence a perspective client's attitude if the client feels threatened by bodily harm or loss of possessions due to possible unauthorized access to his or her premises.
Therefore, there is a strong felt yet unfulfilled need for a device according to the instant application, which provides a first and second locking means, the first locking means being directed solely to the chamber within the lock box, and the second locking means being directed solely to the shackle arm which secures the lock box to a door knob or the like. Thus, the owner or occupant of a premises may remove the lock box but not its contents, so that when a realtor has a confirmed appointment to show the premises the owner or occupant may install the lock box in the appropriate position thereby providing the necessary access. However, at night when the owner or occupant may feel vulnerable, the lock box itself can be removed which reduces the likelihood of unauthorized access to the premises. Furthermore, the owner or occupant can ensure that the real estate agent or authorized person confirms appointments before arriving at the premises.
The patent to Piche refers to first and second locking means, however indexing the code to the first locking means also provides access to disengage the second locking means, thus access to the interior chamber also allows removal of the shackle arm from the site to which it is affixed. Common to all the patents cited is the fact that the lock box itself cannot be removed without first gaining access to the interior chamber, an arrangement which is fraught with the above-mentioned shortcomings. The present disclosure is distinguished in that it overcomes the problems that are associated with prior art devices. Therefore, none of the above citations anticipate, contemplate nor render obvious that which is taught and claimed in the instant application.